Thursday, February 19, 2009

Bad Blogger

Okay! I AM a "Bad Blogger"! I know I promised to post more...and it has been over a month since my last post. I feel like I am so busy now, and barely have time to sit down. I guess that is a good thing. I am not one for routines...but I have found myself in one....let me break it down for you.
5:15 AM Get up, get ready
5:40 AM Leave for work
5:45 AM-9:00 AM WORK
9:05 AM Get home, feed kids breakfast, do 1 house chore, lay clothes out for next day
10:00-11:00 AM Work out downstairs, while kids ride bikes around me
11:00 AM-12:30 PM Take a shower, bathe and get the kids ready
12:30 PM-1:30 PM Cook lunch, eat lunch, clean up lunch
1:30PM-2:00 PM Clean up any mess the kids made while I was busy with lunch prep
2:00 PM...put Sponge Bob on for Lauren, put Jamie in crib for nap
2:00PM-4:00 PM Watch a bit of TV, NAP!
4:00PM-4:20 PM Freshen up, pack dinner for work
4:25 PM-Kiss Matt as he arrives from work, and I am in my car heading BACK to work
4:30PM-10:30 PM WORK AGAIN!
10:30 PM-11:00 PM Change into PJs, clean up any messes kids made while I was at work
11:00 PM-12:00 AM Watch a bit of TV with Matt
12:00 AM Go to sleep....

What a day, eh? Kind of exhausting! But worth it to our kids, we think! I am quite proud of myself for working out everyday....and now being so active and having the time to eat lunch, I have lost almost 7 pounds. I am not trying to diet, just to make healthy choices...and hope to lose weight that way. I think it helps to be on the GO..so much. I now hardley have any time to make jewelry, talk on the phone, watch TV, or get on the computer to BLOG. Sorry! From now on I won't make any empty promises.

Today was my day off...so I had time to try to fill you in on a few events over the past month:

My mom is gracious enough to babysit for us quite often, so that Matt and I can get SOME alone time. The weekend of her birthday, she took Lauren over-night. When we met up for her birthday dinner...we arrived to see Lauren's hair styled by my sister Sarah:
(Lauren is such a poser...where did she get THAT from??)
Sarah and Lauren...do they look alike?
Jamie was happy to see his sister. They are the cutest kids, EVER! (at least I think so!)
I happen to think that I have the greatest mom in the entire world....she is sweet, un-selfish, practical and hard working...I am lucky to have her as a mother and as a best friend:
Here is the entire clan (minus my brother and his wife...they live in New Mexico)...even my niece, Alysia came:
On January 17th, we were invited to my friend, Carissa's son's birthday party at the Kangaroo Zoo (yes, Christy I found it!). Here is the birthday boy; Mason:
Jamie was shy at first, but then he loved it! Afterall, it combines two of his favorite things: wrestling and falling!
Jamie and Mason
Jamie on a slide:
Lauren, of course, had a blast...who doesn't love jumpy-houses??
AND Jumpy-slides...CRASH!
AND Dinosaur noses....(don't you just love him when he smiles? I sure do!)
We also ventured out to the Utah Auto Expo (AKA Matt heaven)....Matt took a kajillion pictures, and would have taken more if my battery hadn't died. I had to include one shot of the car he thought was the coolest, the Mustang:
Personally, I was the most excited to see Nascar Driver Denny Hamblin's #11 Fed Ex Car. Oh yeah, we are huge Nascar fans!
Okay...jump ahead one month. I literally took NO pictures for a month. Maybe my camera needed a rest from the Auto Expo. ANYWAY...I broke it out again for Valentines Day. I had a great family oriented Valentines Day. First we took the kids to eat with us, lunch at Red Lobster. Here is cheeser Lauren:
As a Valentines treat, the kids were actually uncharacteristically well-behaved during lunch. Jamie, obviously enjoyed himself:
Matt has been spending a lot of time getting our old house ready to sell. I hadn't been there for a while to see his hard work. So, after our Valentines lunch, he took us there. I had to post all of the pictures because I am so amazed that he can do all of this work himself....
Here is a shot of the tile he is putting down in the dining room and kitchen, and some of his tools:
I had to take a picture of our empty kitchen. It was so weird going back:
Our closet, Matt installed the closet system. It made our closet so much more organized:
Our bedroom. He has ripped up the carpet all over the entire house:
The hallway:
The guest bathroom, oh and Jamie's head:
Lauren's purple bedroom, he painted this room right before Jamie was born:
Our backyard. It is strange...our old house, although only 10 minutes away, is at a much higher elevation, so there is always SOOO much more snow at the old house than at the new house. At this time there was NONE at the new house...and about 5 inches at the old house....hmmmm:
The fridge used to be here...now it houses the painting supplies:
The kids enjoy checking out the house too:
Matt framed the basement all by himself:
Matt's two old cars are occupying our garage. Here is his El Camino, and his Camaro:
Here is the old place....I miss the cute little shack:
Okay, these next shots got out of order somehow...so bear with me.
The lake behind our house recently became inhabited by two ducks. The kids and I could not be happier. Here is a shot of them in the lake:
You can see the lake is coming along nicely..another shot of the ducks:
Okay, back to Valentines day...here are the flowers that Matt got me...it was a very nice suprise...they were very beautiful. He also got Lauren a stuffed animal, and Jamie a toy car. What a sweet Daddy! This is how we ended our Valentines Day, grocery shopping. Good times!

Well...that about sums it up. Oh, I forgot to mention that I started managing a new team at work as of February 1. My team calls people in problem mortgage states and offers them lower payments and lower interest rates. I have had to learn a lot and it has been sorta stressful, but every day gets a little better. Nothing else too exciting. I will try to post more often, but no guarantee's folks!!! Lauren's birthday is next week...so I will do my darndest to share that as soon as I can. I still can't believe my little girl will be 5!!!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Holiday Memories:Ga-zillion Pics

As promised, here are some of my favorite holiday photos: Much love to my peeps:

Here is a picture of me and my bestest friend, Heather...at her annual Ornament Exchange Party. Heath, I don't know what I would do without you! The day it became OURS 12/11/2008! Our dreamhouse!!!
Lauren's last day at daycare...Matt's cousin Nichole with happy Lauren and none-too-happy Jamie:
Lauren's closest gal pals at Miss Cheryl's:
All of the kids at Cheryl's...we sure miss them!
Christmas Eve at my mom's...pretty Lauren:
Jamie LOVES any kind of vehicle..much thanks to my cousin Melanie:
Jamie, drinking Lauren's drink...does he look guilty?
The tall man and the littley-boy...Ashley's boyfriend Victor and Jamie:
Look at my handsome boy! In his Christmas Eve suit:
Jamie...loving his new toys and his new "Cars" jammies:
Santa came! Christmas Eve 2008, our first Christmas at the new house:
The requests from Santa:
Lauren on Christmas morning (check out the crappy weather out the windows..ugh!) Talk about a white Christmas!
Unwrapping on Christmas Day:
Our stash:
Jamie's tool-set from Papa Leo, at their house, later on Christmas Day:
Matt's step-brother Stephen and his boyfriend Collin:
Matt's sister Kristen and her husband David, Christmas Day:
My best little family I know....Merry Christmas 2008!
Matt's dad Leo and his wife Tina:
The Lovato grandchildren; Lauren, Isabella, and James:
Matt's brother Greg, his wife Alex, and Bella:
Wrestling with Grandpa on Christmas Day, a new tradition?
Me and the best sisters ever...Sarah and Ashley:
At our annual New Years Eve Party...our first party at the new house!!! Kristen, being silly:
Matt's cousin Sherrell:
Kristen and Greg playing "Singstar":
Watching the new year count-down...Matt, Greg, and Alex:
New Years Day...my parents and Sarah came for a visit:
Me and my cute hubby...loving our new house, and each other! Happy 2009!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Finally feeling like normal!

What a whirl-wind the month of December has been! Between Christmas shopping, wrapping, parties and trying to pack, move, unpack, and decorate....we haven't had two seconds to sit down....BUT life is slowly getting back to normal. We FINALLY got our phone, the internet, and cable so we are starting to feel connected to the world again. I have worked a few days of my new shift, it isn't as bad or as hard as I thought it would be. We will see next Saturday after I work Monday-Friday of it...for those of you who don't know...the new shift is 545AM-845AM...then I run back home, then Matt works 9-430, and I go back from 430PM-930PM. My day is really long, but I have felt pretty productive. It is GREAT to spend so much time with the kids. And for those of you who are asking how the new house is. I can say now that I absolutely love it, it still feels a little unreal..like a dream, or like I am staying at a hotel...but everything is coming together and it is GRREEAAAATTTT!!! Friday, my sister Sarah came over and we actually set up my craft room, and we scrapbooked ALL night. I kept saying to her..."I can't believe that I have an entire room for this! What a dream come true"!!! Well, as we begin to settle into the routine, I will get better about posting, and posting with pictures. I will also try to post some of my favorite Christmas photos soon. I must apologize to my blogging friends, I did miss the last two weeks of your posts, but I will be back to my normal following shortly.